1. Priority Claim
This application claims the benefit of priority from European Patent Application No. 11 002 356.1, filed Mar. 22, 2011, which is incorporated by reference.
2. Technical Field
The invention relates to digital maps representing towns and landscapes that are used for route guidance by a navigation system and, in particular, it relates to the managing and representation of landmarks in digital maps.
3. Related Art
The use of navigation systems in vehicles is becoming increasingly prevalent. Typically, on-board navigation computer systems analyze the combined data provided by GPS (global positioning system), motion sensors such as ABS (anti-lock braking system) wheel sensors, and a digital map to determine the actual position and velocity of a vehicle with increasing preciseness.
Known navigation systems typically use electronic digital maps to represent cartographic features, such as streets, buildings and rivers, and store the data that relates to the cartographic features on a compact disk or a digital video disc. After performing a map matching algorithm, the actual position of the user may be indicated in the digital map. By acoustic and/or visual information, the user may be guided to a predetermined destination.
Some navigation systems are able to display detailed digital maps indicating routes to destinations, the types of maneuvers to be taken at various locations such as intersections as well as different kinds of points of interest (e.g., gas stations, restaurants and landmarks). As the vehicle changes position, either the vehicle position mark on the displayed image changes or the digital map may be scrolled while the vehicle position mark is fixed at a predetermined position.
More elaborated navigation systems provide enlarged views, for example, of intersections on the guide route where the driver should turn in order to help the driver to identify the route to be taken to the predetermined destination more accurately. The to displayed images represent simplified synthesized views from the driver's perspective. However, a two-dimensional representation can confuse the driver, in particular, if roads are intersecting at different height levels or in rotary turns with roads in close proximity. Summary
A navigation system of a vehicle stores a two-dimensional representation of a landmark and three-dimensional representation of the same landmark. The landmark may be a heritage site, prominent building, historical monument, natural monument, or any other physical object which may provide the driver of the vehicle with quickly recognizable information and allow for reliable spatial orientation which may be useful to the driver. The navigation system provides either the two-dimensional or three-dimensional representation of the landmark in a digital map based on the calculated distance of the landmark from the current position of the navigation system.
Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.